The Red Drapes
by Ster J
Summary: Nurse Chapel and Lieutenant Uhura are trying to find out why Spock has red curtains around his bed.


**The Red Drapes **

**by Ster Julie**

Codes: Ch, U, S

Rating: PG

Series: TOS

Part: New 1/1

Summary: The ladies speculate why Spock has those red drapes in his quarters.

--ooOoo--

Lieutenant Uhura put her tray on the table across from Nurse Chapel.

"So, Chris?" she asked, eagerly slipping into the chair. "What have you learned? Why does Spock have those god-awful red drapes in his cabin?"

C hristine had a wistful look in her eye.

"It's nothing dramatic," Chapel responded. "In fact, it's kind of, oh, I don't know, kind of sad."

Uhura was puzzled. "Sad?" she repeated, puzzled. "What is it? Was he raised in a bordello?"

Christine sat back, indignant for Amanda's sake. "Really, Nyo!"

Uhura tossed her hands in the air. "So, is it a giant security blanket?"

Chapel tilted her head to one side as she thought. Finally she nodded. "You're closer that you think."

Uhura's jaw dropped. "A _security blanket!"_

Chapel clamped a hand over Uhura's mouth. "Shh!" she ordered _sotto voce._ "He just walked in!"

Spock turned towards the two women and saw Chapel's hand covering a ranking officer's mouth.

"Is there a problem here?" he asked, a suspicious eyebrow on the rise.

Uhura pulled back. "No, sir, Mr. Spock," she said, smiling sweetly. "We were having a discussion about voiced and unvoiced fricatives and how even the unvoiced fricatives produce vibrations when . . . "

"I see," Spock interrupted perplexed at the purpose such a conversation. "As you . . . were."

Chapel and Uhura were hard-pressed not to laugh at the Vulcan's retreating back. Uhura pitched her voice as low as she could and said, "So, what did you learn?"

Chapel leaned further and spoke softly. "Amanda told me . . "

"Amanda!" Uhura hissed. "Are you two on a first-name basis?"

It was Chapel's turn to smile. "Yes," she beamed. "Anyway, she told me that they are not drapes or curtains. It's a special cloth that blocks out stray thoughts."

" Acoustical _fabric?" _Uhura echoed.

Christine nodded. "Something like that. They make their meditation robes and traveling cloaks from it."

"To keep their thoughts in?" Uhura asked. "No, to keep others' thoughts _out!"_

Chapel nodded again. "Actually, it works both ways." She shifted even closer in her chair. "Amanda said that when Spock first went to the Academy, he felt space sick all the time. The medics were even recommending that he go back home. Spock asked for another chance. He called his mother -- _collect_ -- and asked her to rush his meditation robe as soon as possible."

"A collect call?" Uhura asked in surprise, estimating the cost for such a call, "from Earth to _Vulcan?_ Kids are all alike, it seems."

Chapel continued with the story. "Amanda told him that she couldn't do it. Spock looked so hurt and he almost hung up on her. She told him to request a piece of the cloth from the Vulcan embassy. It was right there on the other side of the bay. In the meantime, she would send him the meditation robe, a traveling cloak and some extra fabric."

"And did the embassy come through for Spock?" Uhura asked between bites.

Chapel nodded once more. "They sent him a strip of cloth that he wore like a headband when he slept, when he meditated, whenever he could sneak it in with his uniform."

Uhura looked over at Spock as she chewed. "So, when did he go from a headband to draperies?"

"Well," Chapel said as she finished her iced tea, "the headband only worked so well, but it was better than nothing. When the robe and the cloak finally arrived, he was told that he could not have these in the dorm, so he stored them at the embassy. But the fabric . . ."

"The fabric he made into drapes!" Uhura concluded.

Again, Chapel clamped her hand over Uhura's mouth.

Across the room, Spock's head popped up. The two female officers were certainly amusing themselves at his expense.

Convinced that they were caught, Chapel and Uhura tried to beat a hasty exit, but Spock stopped them in their tracks when an authoritative, "Halt!"

The two women snapped to attention.

Spock eyed them critically.

"Lieutenant Uhura," he began, "how many fricatives are in the words, 'meditation robe'?"

"One," she said sweetly, "in the word 'meditation' is found the voiceless fricative /_sh_/."

Spock eyed her coolly. "And sibilants carry well even when spoken in whispers, wouldn't you agree, Lieutenant?"

Uhura cast her eyes down in shame. "Yes they do, Mr. Spock."

Spock then turned his gaze on Chapel. "Nurse, what logic is then in troubling my mother with a question that I could have more easily answered for you?"

Chapel blushed. "I-I noticed sir," she stammered, "that you recover from injuries and illnesses more quickly when you are confined to your cabin. I was wondering how to make your stays in Sickbay more comfortable."

Spock noticed that his actions with the two women were drawing far too much attention from the rest of the crew in the Mess Hall. "Come with me," he ordered. Chapel and Uhura were hard pressed to keep up with his long-legged stride. Soon enough, they found themselves being ushered into the First Officer's quarters.

Spock picked up a corner of the fabric draping the walls of his sleeping alcove and held it out to the women. "The native fibers used in this fabric protect me from the psychic onslaught of being so close to so many untrained minds," he explained. "I left home so quickly that I was unable to bring my meditation robe or traveling cloak. That is why I was frequently ill in my first months at the Academy." Spock let the fabric fall from his hand. "Now you know why I heal much more quickly in my cabin, Nurse Chapel. I assure you, it is not a 'security blanket.'"

Uhura put a hand out to feel the fabric, as Chapel asked, "Mr. Spock, may I have your permission to bring your robe or some of this fabric to Sickbay the next time you have the misfortune of needing medical services?"

Spock stared at the nurse. He sensed that she really was sincere, that her only intention was his well-being. He nodded in response.

"Why red?" Uhura asked suddenly.

Two pair of eyes turned to her as she fingered the plush cloth.

"Why is it red?" she asked again. "Does it signify the Vulcan sky or the desert sands?"

Spock almost smiled at the lieutenant's attempt to put more meaning into a purely functional object.

"It is red, Miss Uhura, because that is the natural color of the fiber," Spock explained.

"Why is the area only protected on three sides?" the nurse asked. "What about the fourth wall, or the floor or the ceiling, for that matter?"

"I found that having the three sides covered was adequate, Miss Chapel," Spock answered patiently.

"Oh," she answered simply. "I thought that you had just run out of fabric."

Spock tipped his head to one side. "Actually . . ." Spock began sheepishly, "I did."

The women laughed.

"Thank you for the explanation, Mr. Spock," Uhura said. "We'll leave you to your own psychic sanctuary."

"Next time," Spock chided gently, "please come to me with your questions."

"Yes, sir," Chapel added.

Spock saw the women out of his quarters then went straight to his comm panel.

"Really, " he said as the smiling face of his dear mother Amanda appeared on the screen. "A _security blanket?"_

"Well, you didn't want me to lie now, did you, Spock?"

END


End file.
